Atlantic Ocean Temperature Profiles from the HUNT Expedition, 1973

Temperature-depth profile data were collected using mechanical and expendable bathythermograph (BT/XBT) casts from the vessel HUNT in the Atlantic Ocean. The dataset was submitted by the US Navy as part of the International Decade of Ocean Exploration / Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment (IDOE/MODE) project. It contains observations recorded from May 25, 1973, to June 1, 1973, and was processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center into the Universal Bathythermograph Output (UBT) format.

Use Cases

• Analyzing vertical ocean temperature structure by pairing temperature and depth values.
• Studying short-term thermal variability in a specific Atlantic region during late May 1973.
• Comparing inflection-point sampling in XBT data against uniform-interval data from other instruments.
• Investigating historical ocean conditions as part of the IDOE/MODE international research project.
• Validating or calibrating ocean model outputs for the 1970s time period using in-situ measurements.

Strengths

• Data is processed to a documented standard format (NODC UBT), ensuring a consistent structure.
• Provides specific temporal coverage for a focused 8-day research cruise in 1973.
• Contains detailed metadata per observation, including cruise information, position, date, and time.
• Cross-platform presence on NASA Earthdata and Data.gov signals recognized archival importance.

Limitations

• The exact number of rows (casts/profiles) and columns is not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the 'last updated' date, reporting both 1973-06-01 and 2026-03 05.
• Instrument-specific details (e.g., maximum depth achieved per cast) are not included in the available metadata.

Provenance

Source

US Navy; Ships of Opportunity, processed by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC/NOAA NCEI).

Collection Method

Collected using mechanical Bathythermograph (BT) and expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) casts from the vessel HUNT.

Time Range

1973-05-25 to 1973-06-01

Freshness

2026-03-05 23:01:45.697086

Geography

Atlantic Ocean (specific cruise track of the HUNT vessel not detailed).